Can you speak Italian? By now, many of you have passed the beginning stages of learning how to speak Italian and can read and comprehend quite a bit of the language. Meraviglioso!

But have you tried to take the next step to communicate in Italian fluently? Are you comfortable using email to make plans with your family and friends? Can you use the Italian subjunctive mood and Italian reflexive verbs correctly when making plans?

For our second Italian practice email, we will continue with the story of Caterina and Francesca, two Italian cousins who are living in different cities and trying to reconnect. First, we will present a review of how to describe visiting someone using the verb trovare. Then we will present information about Italian reflexive verbs of emotion and of self-action, andthe different meanings of verbs with reflexive and non-reflexive forms. We will also discuss use of Italian prepositions regarding the different places we go in our daily lives and regarding time. Finally, we will describe how to use Italian verbs as nouns.

A note about the Italian subjunctive mood: to express complex feelings in Italian correctly, it is important to use the Italian subjunctive mood. Using the subjunctive mood is difficult for English speakers, because we only rarely use this tense in English, and it’s something that I am always working on! This is the second blog post in the “Italian Practice” series that focuses on how to use the Italian subjunctive mood, or “il congiuntivo,” when writing an email to your family.

To review how to express one’s feelings using thesubjunctive mood and how to conjugate the subjunctive mood in the present tense, see our Speak Italian Subjunctive series.

How many phrases that use the subjunctive mood can you pick out of the following emails? Hint: these phrases usually include the word “che.” Look for the underlined phrases for help! Notice that the future tense does NOT have a subjunctive mood! Also, look for reflexive verbs of emotion and self-action and special phrases of visiting that have been italicized for easier comprehension.

Remember these examples as “anchors” in your knowledge for when you try to speak Italian and try out the subjunctive mood in your next Italian conversation!

Dopo, andiamo a fare la spesa insieme a Capistrello e così posso portare del buon pane a Roma quando torno!Afterward, let’s go grocery shopping together in Capistrello, so I can bring some good bread to Rome when I return!

Ho anche una buona idea—I also have a great idea—

Forse tu puoi venire a trovarmi a Roma e possiamo fare shopping di vestiti.Perhaps you can come to visit me in Rome, and we can go shopping for clothes.

Let’s quickly review how to use the verbs trovare and venire to describe visiting someone, which we covered in detail in our last Italian practice blog post, “Emailing Italian Families.” We will also describe how to use the verb portare when bringing someoneto visit others. Examples will come from the emails in this blog post. Did you notice these italicized phrases as you were reading?

Trovare means “to find”something.

When trovare is combined with the verb andare in the phrase “andare a trovare,” the meaning changes into “to go to visit” someone.

Sono anziani e io dovrei andare a trovarli ogni domenica.

Mi piacerebbe molto andare a trovare i nostri zii in Abruzzo.

Similarly, when trovare is combined with the verb venire in the phrase “venire a trovare,” the meaning changes into “to come to visit” someone.

Also, when trovare is combined with the verb portare in the phrase, “portare a trovare,” the meaning changes into “to bring (someone) to visit” someone.

Per prima cosa, io vorrei portarti a trovare i nostri zii.

Italian Subjunctive Mood Practice:
Planning Your Italian Vacation

You Will Need to Know…Reflexive Verbs of Emotion

Italian reflexive verbs can be tricky for the English speaker because in many situations, reflexive verbs are used in Italian but not in English. In these cases, we must learn to think in Italian! If we think in Italian, using reflexive verbs to refer to changing emotions that one is feeling at the moment does makes sense.

We have already talked about the most common reflexive verbs in the second blog post in the Speak Italian! series, Speak Italian: All About… What I Am Doing! This blog post describes activities of daily living, which are the most common activities that use the Italian reflexive verbs.

Other activities that involve the changing of one’s emotions during the course of daily life are also reflexive, as in the current blog post, when one cousin talks to the other about her feelings about Rome and taking care of her children. Remember that verbs that translate as “to get” in English are reflexive in Italian!

So, if I “get”/ “am getting” angry, bored, embarrassed,offended, or worried, the verbs used to describe this happening within myself will be reflexive in Italian: arrabbiarsi, annoiarsi, imbarrazzarsi, offendersi, and preoccuparsi.

Verbs of “forgetting” and “remembering” that use the word “about” after the infinitive form in English are also reflexive in Italian. These verbs are followed by the preposition di: dimenticarsi di, scordarsi di (colloquial expression), ricordarsi di.

The following list includes the above verbs, and “a few” more!

accorgersi di/che

to notice or realize (about self/someone or something else)

annoiarsi

to get bored

arrabiarsi

to get angry/mad

aspettarsi

to expect/ to anticipate

confondersi

to get confused

concentrarsi

to concentrate (on something)

dimenticarsi di

to forget about (something)

distrarsi

to be distracted

focalizzarsi

to focus (on something)

imbarrazzarsi

to get embarrassed

interessarsi a

to take an interest in/ to show an interest in

interessarsi di

to take care of/ to be in charge of

offendersi

to get offended

preoccuparsi

to get worried/worry

rendersi conto di/che

to realize (about self/someone or something else)

ricordarsi di

to remember to do

sbronzarsi

to get drunk

scordarsi di

to forget about (something)(colloquial expression)

scusarsi

to excuse oneself

seccarsi

to get annoyed

sentirsi

to feel

sorprendersi

to get surprised

spaventarsi

to get scared

ubriacarsi

to get drunk

vergognarsi

to be ashamed

*************************

Notice that the Italian verb that describes getting bored, annoiarsi, sounds very much like the English word “annoyed.” However, don’t get confused(confondersi)! The Italian verb that means “to get annoyed” is seccarsi.And of course, the verb for to feel in Italian is reflexive—sentirsi, not to be confused with the non-reflexive verb that means to hear—sentire.

Here is how this works. When I want to talk about these emotions as they are happening to me, I must use the reflexive pronoun mi for myself. If I want to talk about emotions that I know are happening to someone else, then I must use the correct corresponding reflexive pronoun/verb conjugation (ti, si, ci, vi, si). Remember to leave out the subject pronoun (io, tu, Lei/lei/lui, noi, voi, loro) unless it is necessary for clarification.

All this is easier than it sounds once you give it a try!

Mi arrabio.
I am/am getting angry.

Ti annoi?*
Are you getting bored?

Lei si imbarrazza!She is getting embarrassed!

Lui si imbarrazza!
He is getting embarrassed!

Ci offendiamo!We are getting offended!

Vi confondete!You all are getting confused!

Loro si seccano.They are getting annoyed.

*The tu and noi forms of arrabiarsi and annoiarsi are irregular and have only one “i” at the ending: tu arrabi e tu annoi.

*************************

You Will Need to Know…How to Use the Past Tense with Reflexive Verbs

Distrarsi is often used in the past tense, as below. In this case, remember to change the “o” ending of the masculine past participle distratto to an “a” ending to make the feminine past participle distratta if needed.

Two other reflexive verbs in our list that are commonly used in the past tense are those of forgetting and remembering: dimenticarsidi and scordarsi di(to forget about something)* and ricordarsi/ricordarsi di (to remember something/to remember to do something).

*The verb scordare means to make an instrument go out of tune. There is some controversy about the use of scordarsi with the meaning of “to forget,” and in effect giving it the same meaning as dimenticarsi; some linguists consider only dimenticarsi correct Italian. That said, to some Italians scordarsi means to forget something in your heart and dimenticarsi to forget something in your mind (i.e. without involving emotion). In actual, everyday use, most Italians probably consider the two interchangeable.

Italian Subjunctive Mood Practice:
Planning Your Italian Vacation

You Will Need to Know…How to Say, “I realized…” or “I noticed”*

Lastly, we present examples that use the phrases “rendersi conto di/che,” which means “to realize” and “accorgersi di/che,” which can mean both “to realize” and “to notice.”Accorgersi di/che is most often used when something is recognized, but not necessarily understood.

To realize is rendered in Italian with the reflexive verb phrase rendersi conto. In order to say, “I realize,” we must conjugate the verb rendersi, which has a regular -ere conjugation in the present tense, and then add the word conto to finish the phrase. So, “I realize…” is “Io mi rendo conto…” But, of course, we always leave out the Italian subject pronoun, so the phrase that Italians use is conversation is just, “Mi rendo conto…”

To complete the sentence, just add what you realize in the phrase that follows! The following phrase will most commonly be in the present or past tense, but of course, there are times when we may need to use the conditional or future tenses, depending on our realization.

Link what you realize about yourself with the Italian conjugation “di” before adding an infinitive verb. Note: you don’t always have to use “di” in this case if you are talking about yourself. But if you do chose to use “di,” the verb in the next phrase must be in the infinitive form.

—-or—-

Link what you realize about yourself, someone or something else with the Italian conjugation“che”before adding a verb conjugated in the appropriate tense. Remember, if the subject is different in the original phrase and the phrase that follows, you MUST use “che” to link the two phrases.

In English, both “di” and “che” are translated as “that.”

Below are example sentences to show how this all works. These example sentences are true for me. To think of more examples, and try to describe what you realize about yourself!

Mi rendo contodiavere un’ora per preparare la cena.I realize that I have an hour to make dinner.

Mi rendo contocheho un’ora per preparare la cena.
I realize that I have an hour to prepare dinner.

Mi rendo contochehai un’ora per preparare la cena.
I realize that you have an hour to prepare dinner.

Now, let’s say that we recognize something without really understanding what it is about, or what is going on – that is, we notice something. In this case, we can use the reflexive verb accorgersi. This verb also has a regular -ere conjugation and will be followed by either di or che, for the same reasons as we have just described above. To say, “I notice that,” then, use the phrase, “Mi accorgo di/che…”

Again, an example from my life, taking from a time when I was when talking a good friend of mine about a certain movie. Try to think of some examples from your own life!

Mi accorgo che ti piace molto questo film. Vuoi andare a vederlo con me?
I notice that you really like this film. Do you want to go to see it with me?

********************

How to say, “I realize,” or “I notice,” seems simple enough! But wait… we most commonly use the past tense to talk about something that we have realized or have noticed. This, of course, involves conjugating our two verbs in the past tense!

We will use the passato prossimo forms of these verbs for the one time events of realizing or noticing something, which you will remember is formed for reflexive verbs with essere + the past participle. (If you need a general refresher on how to form the passato prossimo, please refer to our book Conversational Italian for Travelers Just the Verbs ).

The past participle for rendersi is the irregular verb reso, and the ending will need to change to reflect the speaker when using the passato prossimo.

The past participle for accorgersi is the irregular verb accorto, and the ending will need to change to reflect the speaker when using the passato prossimo.

So, when I want to talk about what I have realized, I can say, “Mi sono resa conto di/che…” Similarly, a male would say, “Mi sono reso conto di/che…”

And, when I want to mention what I have noticed, I can say, “Mi sono accorta di/che…” Similarly, a male would say, “Mi sono accorto di/che…”

To complete the sentence, just add what you have realizedin the phrase that follows! The following phrase will most commonly be in the present or past tense, but of course, there are times when we may need to use the conditional or future tenses, depending on our realization.

Below is a table to summarize these phrases of realizing and noticing. I’ve made the verbs in the phrase green to differentiate them from the other words in the phrase. Most Italians use these verb phrases so frequently, though, that they say them quickly, and the words usually run together in real-time conversation. Listen carefully for these phrases and then try to use them yourself!

Mi rendo conto di/che…

I realize that…

Mi sono reso conto di/che…

I realized that… (male speaker)

Mi sono resa conto di/che…

I realized that… (female speaker)

Mi accorgo di/che…

I notice that…

Mi sono accorto di/che…

I noticed that… (male speaker)

Mi sono accorta di/che…

I noticed that… (female speaker)

We had fun in our Conversational Italian! group “discussing” what we all realized during the year 2017 for our talking point this January. Below are some example sentences that I’ve made up thinking back to New Year’s Eve of 2018. (Notice that as a female I have to use resa and accorta.) How many more examples can you think of?

Ieri sera, a Capodanno, mi sono resa contochesono molto fortunata.
Last night, on New Year’s Eve, I realized that I am very lucky.

Mi sono resa contodiavere amici molto cari.
I realized that I have many dear friends.

Mi sono resa contocheho molti cari amici.
I realized that I have many dear friends.

Mi sono resa contodiavere imparato tante cose importanti dalla mia famiglia.
I realized that I have learned so many important things from my family.

Mi sono resa contocheho imparato tante cose importanti dalla mia famiglia.
I realized that I have learned so many important things from my family.

Mi sono accortacheera molto freddo a Capodanno.
I noticed that it was very cold on New Year’s Eve.

*The past section is a reprint from the blog: Italian Phrases We Use EVERY Day! What I realized… from ConversationalItalian.wordpress.org, to be published on February 7, 2018.

Italian Subjunctive Mood Practice:
Planning Your Italian Vacation

You Will Need to Know…
Reflexive Verbs of Self-Action

Italian reflexive verbs can be tricky for the English speaker because in many situations, reflexive verbs are used in Italian but not in English. In these cases, we must learn to think in Italian! If we think in Italian, using reflexive verbs to refer to the things we are doing at the moment makes sense.

We have already talked about the most common reflexive verbs in the second blog post in the Speak Italian! series, Speak Italian: All About… What I Am Doing! This blog post describes activities of daily living, which are the most common activities that use the Italian reflexive verbs.

Other activities that involve actions relating to the self are reflexive in Italian. They refer to what a person (oneself) is doing. Here is a short list:

divertirsi

to enjoy oneself/to have fun

divertirsi a

to enjoy… / to play with

incontrarsi

to meet (planned)

informarsi di/su

to ask/inquire about something

nascondersi

to hide

occuparsi di

to work at a job or a task

perdersi

to get/be lost

prepararsi (a)

to get ready (to)

provarsi

to try on clothes

rilassarsi

to relax

riposarsi

to rest

sbrigarsi

to hurry up

sedersi*

to sit down

smarrirsi

to get/be lost

*Sedersi has an irregular conjugation.

*************************

You Will Need to Know…How to Say You are Having Fun
“Divertirsi, Divertente, Divertimento”

One of the most important verbs listed in the last section is divertirsi, which is the verb that Italians use to say that they are enjoying themselves or having fun. There is a lot of fun to be had in Italy, so it is worthwhile to learn how to use this verb, as well as the adverb divertente and the noun divertimento.

To tell someone, “Have a good time!” use the phrase, “Buon divertimento!” To use the verb divertirsi and the adverb divertente see below:

Mi diverto!

I am enjoying myself/having fun!

Mi diverto a guardare la TV (televisione).

I enjoy watching TV.

Mi sono divertito(a)!

I had fun!/I had a good time!

Mi sono proprio divertito(a)!

I really had fun/a good time!

È divertente!

It is fun/entertaining/enjoyable.

È divertente parlare italiano.

It is fun to speak Italian.

Era divertente!

It was fun/entertaining/enjoyable/a good time.

Era proprio divertente!

It was really a lot of fun/entertaining/enjoyable/a good time!

Italian Subjunctive Mood Practice:
Planning Your Italian Vacation

You Will Need to Know…
“Prendersi Cura di…” and “Occuparsi di…”
Reflexive Phrase of Taking Care

When one person is taking care of another person (or living thing), the reflexive phrase “prendersi cura di…” is used in Italian. The reason that this concept is reflexive in Italian may be that the caring originates within an individual person (myself, for instance), although the action of caring/taking care of is directed at another person. The easiest way to remember this concept is by examples (see below).

The preposition “di” at the end of this phrase must be combined with the definite article (il,la,lo, l’, i, gli, le) if one is not referring to a family member. Also, remember that the subject pronoun is usually left out of the sentence, except for clarification.

When a person is taking care of something, the reflexive phrase “occuparsi di…” is used in Italian. The reason that this concept is reflexive in Italian may be that the caring originates within an individual person (myself, for instance), although the action of caring/taking care of something is directed at something. Often this involves someone’s occupation, but it could also involve just one task.

Da decembre mi occuperò di trovare un nuovo impiegato.From December I will take care/have the task of finding a new worker.

Italian Subjunctive Mood Practice:
Planning Your Italian Vacation

You Will Need to Know…
Different Meanings of Verbs
with Regular and Reflexive Forms

Many Italian verbs have regular and reflexive forms. If the action is directed back toward the speaker, use the reflexive form. For the verbs ricordare and ricordarsi, in most situations, either form may be used. When speaking of something one needs to remember to do, use ricordare di, as we learned in the last chapter, or ricordarsi di.

Note also that the meaning of a verb may change with use of its reflexive form. Chiamare, for instance, means to call someone, as in to make a call on the telephone or to call out to someone.But chiamarsi means to call oneself by name. Sentire refers to the senses, and can mean to hear, to feel (as in to touch something) and also to smell. But the reflexive verb sentirsi has the very different meaning of to feel an emotion.

aspettare

to wait/wait for

aspettarsi

to expect/anticipate

chiamare

to call

chiamarsi

to call onself/to name

fermare

to stop an object

fermarsi

to stop oneself

incontrare

to meet by chance

incontrarsi

planned meeting

informare

to inform/to educate

informarsi di/su

to ask/to inquire

lavare

to wash

lavarsi

to wash oneself

mettere

to put/place

mettersi

to put on clothing

occupare

to be occupied

occuparsi di

to work at a job or a task

essere occupato con…

to be busy with (something)

preparare

to get something ready

prepararsi

to get oneself ready

provare

to try/practice/rehearse

provarsi

to try on clothes

ricordare*

to remember

ricordarsi

to remember something

ricordaredi

to remember to do…

ricordarsidi

to remember to do…

sentire

to hear/to feel (sense of touch)
to smell

sentirsi

to feel (emotions)

spostare

to move

spostarsi

to move oneself

*Incidentally, Romagnol dialect (from the Emiliano-Romangnolo region) for “I remember,” is “amarcord,” which is also the name of a famous Italian comedic film from the 1970s by the director Federico Fellini.

Italian Subjunctive Mood Practice:
Planning Your Italian Vacation

You Will Need to Know…
Italian Prepositions “a” and “in” for Places

In English, we go “to” a place or we are “in or “at” a place. In Italian, two prepositions are used to express both where we are going and where we are: “A” and “in” both can mean “to, in, and at.”

Note that in English, the preposition “to” is used to describe the motion of going somewhere, but once a person has arrived where they are going, the prepositions “in” or “at” are used.* So the English preposition changes based on whether one is going to or is in a place.

In Italian, the motion of going to or being in a place does not change preposition use. The preposition is selected depending on the noun that the preposition modifies.

The Italian prepositions are then often (but not always) linked with the Italian definite article (il, la, l’, lo, i, le, gli).

Try as I may, I cannot find a reason for the difference in Italian preposition use for each individual place, although in some cases the Italian use of prepositions seems to mirror British English, rather than American English (the British go “in hospital,” as do the Italians). I guess we have simplified things here in America, across the ocean from the land of our mother tongue!

So therefore, these Italian preposition/noun combinations just need to be memorized. Just link them to the actual place one is going to or one is in and this combination will not change!

See the table below:*

Do you want to go…

Are you…

Vuoi andare…

Sei…

home?

at home?

a casa?

to a restaurant?

at/in the restaurant?

al ristorante?

to a (coffee) bar?

at/in the (coffee) bar?

al bar?

to a cafe?

at/in the cafe?

al café?

to the museum?

at the museum?

al museo?

to the movies?

at the movies?

al cinema?

to the concert?

at the concert?

al concerto?

to the show (performance)?

at the show?

allo spettacolo?

to the show (exhibit)?

at the exhibit?

alla mostra?

to a hospital?

at the hospital?

in ospidale?

to a pizzeria?

at/in the pizzeria?

in pizzeria?

to the piazza?

at/in the piazza?

in piazza?

to church?

at/in church?

in chiesa?

to the beach?

at the beach?

in spiaggia?

to the sea?

at the seaside?

al mare?

to the mountains?

in the mountains?

in montagna?

to the country?

in the country?

in campagna?

*You will notice from this list that the use of the English prepositions “in” and “at” is also a bit idiomatic. To my mind, and I am sure this can be debated, when someone is surrounded by 4 walls or are in some way completely surrounded, they are “in” a place.

An English speaker is always “at home.” If a person has just arrived, or is standing outside the door of a new place, they are “at” this place. If one then wants to emphasize that they have settled down into this new place, i.e. have a table at a restaurant, the preposition “in” then comes into play.

Also, if a person is involved in what is happening at a particular place, they are “in” it; a viewer is “at” a show, but a performer is “in” the show. And, of course, we all stand “in”‘ line before the show or another event begins!

These explanations may be a bit more complicated than needed, though, and I am sure these prepositions are thought of as interchangeable in many situations by English speakers.

Italian Subjunctive Mood Practice:
Planning Your Italian Vacation

You Will Need to Know…
Italian Preposition “di” for Time of Day

Sometimes it is necessary to emphasize the time of day in Italian, as in morning, afternoon, evening, or night. This is simple in Italian! Just combine the preposition “di” with the time of day: di mattina, di pomeriggio, di sera, or di notte.

Dopo che andiamo in chiesa di mattina, dobbiamo andare a casa loro.After we go to church in the morning, we should go to their house.

Here are some examples where the time of day is added after stating the numerical time for clarity or for emphasis. (Notice that the Italian language uses a comma rather than a colon to separate the hours from the minutes.)

1,00 (AM) È l’una di mattina.

1,00 (PM) È l’una di pomeriggio.

6,00 (PM) Sono le sei di sera.

10,00 (PM) Sono le dieci di notte.

Italian Subjunctive Mood Practice:
Planning Your Italian Vacation

You Will Need to Know…
How to Use the Italian Infinitive Verb
as a Noun

Every now and then, one needs to use a verb as a noun. In this situation, for the English language, we use the gerund, or “-ing” form, of our verb. For instance, take the sentence, “Reading is fun.” The very first word is the “-ing” form of the verb “to read,” but in this case, the verb is actually the subject of the sentence and is doing the work of a noun!

In the Italian language, the infinitive form of the verb is used when a verb takes the place of a noun. For the present tense, only the infinitive form of the verb is needed. For the past tense, the helping verb will be in the infinitive form before the past participle.

In the email example in this blog post, this occurs in three sentences, which are reprinted below.

Kathryn Occhipinti, MD, is the author of theConversational Italian for Travelersseries of books and a teacher of Italian for travelers to Italy in the Peoria and Chicago area.“Everything you need to know to enjoy your visit to Italy!”

Visitlearntravelitalian.com/download.html to purchase/download Conversational Italian for Travelers and find more interesting facts and helpful hints about getting around Italy!Learn how to buy train tickets online, how to make international and local telephone calls, and how to decipher Italian coffee names and restaurant menus, all while gaining the basic understanding of Italian that you will need to know to communicate easily and effectively while in Italy. —From the staff at Stella Lucente, LLC